Mercury Capsule Being Restored To A Place Of Honor

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Visitors to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center can press their noses against the glass windows and watch a bit of history unfold.

For six months, technicians will disassemble, clean and reassemble Liberty Bell 7, the Mercury space capsule that rested in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean for 38 years before being recovered July 20. Space buffs will be able to watch specialists at their work tables as they restore astronaut Gus Grissom's corroded capsule, which sank after a suborbital flight in July 1961 about 300 miles off the coast of Florida.

"This still seems a little hard to believe that this event is even happening, simply because it's still hard to believe this spacecraft sits here in Hutchinson," said Max Ary, the Cosmosphere's president and chief executive officer.

The recovery project was financed by the Discovery Channel, which plans to broadcast a two-hour special, "In Search of Liberty Bell 7," on Dec. 12.

Ary negotiated to bring the Mercury capsule to the Cosmosphere. He said it would cost the space center about $250,000 for bringing the capsule to Hutchinson and for restoration. Once the restoration is complete, the Discovery Channel will take Liberty Bell 7 on a three-year tour, beginning about the middle of 2000.

The spacecraft eventually will be returned to Hutchinson, where it will be permanently displayed.

The nearly four decades that Grissom's capsule spent more than three miles beneath the ocean's surface created plenty of work for the Cosmosphere experts.

Greg Buckingham, a restoration specialist, already has been busy on a few of the pieces removed from the interior of the craft.

Grissom's survival knife, a prized astronaut possession, was recovered from under the spacecraft's couch and cleaned. It was on display as space center officials provided a sneak preview for reporters and photographers.

Forty-five Mercury-head dimes, believed to have been stashed in the capsule by unknown souvenir hunters, also have been recovered and were on display.

Buckingham said being watched -- like an animal in a zoo -- while he works doesn't bother him at all.

"I feel it's important for people to get a chance to see what it takes to get an artifact back to museum quality," Buckingham said.